Laney
In the Sterling household, Helena’s turkey was legendary. When Laney walked in the front door of her parent’s house classically and purposefully cutting it close, the smell immediately greeted her. Her mom told her dinner would be at five. She’d shown up at four fifty-eight.
She found her family gathered in the living room, her mom perched in her favorite rocking chair, ready to fly out of it and straight into the kitchen, her dad on the couch with the remote in his hand, glued to some sports game on the TV, Jason and Natasha on the love seat, holding hands. They all turned to look at her when she walked in.
“Hey…” Laney hated being the center of attention. She almost wished she’d gotten there hours ago, but she’d lied about having some editing she couldn’t get away from, just so that her parents wouldn’t have a chance to get her alone and question her about Morgun.
“Hey.” Natasha beamed at her.
Jason grunted. Her dad grunted too. Both of them were so tuned in to the game that they couldn’t be bothered to greet her properly. Laney had a suspicion that if she’d come in with a flame thrower on her back and torched the huge Christmas tree in the corner of the room, they wouldn’t have noticed. She nearly smiled at the idea.
She wasn’t a fan of the holiday. She basically hated everything about it from the tacky décor to the obnoxious gatherings and the massive interruption to her work schedule. Unlike some people, who got a break at Christmas, things picked up bigtime for her and she was always run ragged before the day even came around.
Her annoyance with Christmas and the chaos it caused aside, she did like seeing her family, eating her mom’s amazing food, and giving out the gifts she’d carefully chosen even though she always said gift giving was nonsense because they were all adults.
Usually, her mom was too busy with the cooking and the gifts and the hosting to get into it with her about grandkids. This year, Laney wasn’t so sure, considering Morgun had mysteriously disappeared from Jason’s wedding a couple days ago before her mom could put her through any sort of inquisition.
“So? Get any good gifts?” Laney sat down on the other side of the couch, opposite her dad.
Natasha beamed. “We did! Mostly household stuff, which we kind of already had, but that’s alright. You can always use a spare, right?”
“Sure.” Laney used to get annoyed with Natasha when she first met her years ago. She was always so cheerful, always willing to look on the bright side. It had taken a while, but she’d grown on Laney, and now, Laney couldn’t imagine not having her in her life. She’d thought of her as a sister for a long time before it became official.
“We also got some handmade gifts. My mom and grandma worked on a quilt with the wedding ring pattern for us. It’s so nice! You’ll have to see it when you come over!”
“That’s amazing.” Laney wasn’t crafty. It would take her a lifetime to put something like that together. She was also oddly touched at the thoughtful gift and the slight sheen in Natasha’s eyes. She was an only child and was very close with her family.
“It’s on our bed right now, but I’m a little scared to use it. It seems even worse to keep it packed away just to save it though.”
“I’m like that with clothes. I always spend money on something nice and then I’m scared to wear it. Or I’ll get a new bag and I’m so scared of using it. The other one I have is in tatters before I finally have to break the new one out of the closet.”
“It’s so true!”
“It was a nice wedding,” Laney said politely. “I really enjoyed it. You looked amazing.”
“Thank you.” Natasha was very fair, and when she blushed, her cheeks were scarlet. “I saw that you brought a date. I’m sorry I didn’t get to really talk to her. I was so busy with everyone and everything, I was just exhausted halfway through the night and then I couldn’t find her.”
“She had to leave early,” Laney lied. “She’s a photographer too. She owns her own business and had some work to get to.”
“Oh really? Is that how you met?”
“Yes,” Laney lied. “She has a job interview with the agency I work for. Tomorrow or the day after, I guess.”
“Wow! So, you’d be working together?”
“Well, not really. Even if she did get hired, we usually work independently on different jobs, and from her work, I’d say they’d put her on family portraits or weddings, or maybe business or residential or commercial.”
“Crazy,” Natasha breathed. “That’s cool. Really. I’m so happy for you!”
Laney wanted to burrow between the couch cushions. She might have stood a chance of doing it if her dad wasn’t parked on the other end. She didn’t want to talk about Morgun, and not just for the usual reasons.
She knew she’d screwed things up at the end of the night. She just wasn’t sure why it mattered so much to her. She wasn’t used to feeling like that. Regretful. Wishing she could go back and change how their night ended. She wasn’t us
ed to not being able to sleep at night because she was thinking about someone, not the usual work and family drama.
For once, her mom saved her bacon. Helena burst out of her rocker and sniffed the air before announcing that the bird was done, and everyone should get to the table. No one questioned Helena’s nose. She could smell a perfectly seasoned, cooked bird from ten miles away.
Laney and Natasha complied first. There were six chairs around the ancient oval table with the two leaves in to bear the weight of the Christmas feast. Laney’s dad and Jason eventually dragged themselves away from the game and took their seats. Jason sat beside Natasha, across the table from Laney, and Tom took the head.